


So, Christmas?

by YoureAMonocoque



Category: Cricket RPF
Genre: M/M, Trees, i'm gonna say there's a hint of a slow burn, pining possibly, trees are an important part of this fic apparently
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2019-05-17 08:24:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14828792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YoureAMonocoque/pseuds/YoureAMonocoque
Summary: Prompt #8: Chris is always being pestered by his family if he has a boyfriend, eventually he gets sick of it.





	So, Christmas?

**Author's Note:**

> I did more research on trees than actual cricket for this fic so this takes place during a tour of some country where England did fairly badly! I haven't a clue how many chapters it will be but I'd say at least 5? Also super sorry if the structure is nauseating, it looked much better on word!

“Chris when are you going to get a boyfriend?”

“Jack has a friend from work who is…Chris where are you going? Hey I was talking to you!”

“Maybe you should try one of those online dating sites I’ve heard they’re very good.”

“What about that guy…Oh what was his name…Daniel that was it! What about him?”

“Oh come on you can’t just change the subject every time this is brought up!”

And so it went on. And on…And on. Quite frankly Chris wanted to put his head through a brick wall at the earliest opportunity. When he had mentioned that to Joe the Yorkie had looked outraged and gave a very long lecture about how much the squad needed him…He had finished it with a ‘Maybe get a boyfriend though’ the pen that had been thrown at his head only missed by a few centimetres.

After receiving the hundredth text from his sister about getting a boyfriend and an offer of setting him up with someone (something his family had done a countless amount of times…some much worse than others) he gave up. He discarded his phone on the bed and padded barefoot out of his hotel room door. He paused as he considered his options: he could go back to Joe…hmm No he was practically a child when it came to these things or he could go to Jos…Given he was very much out of options he headed across the hall to the Lancastrian.

“Woakesy!” Chris could only manage to crack a half smile at the enthusiastic welcome before ducking inside the room. Jos cast a confused look between the open door and where Chris was now standing before shutting the door and training his frown on Chris who shuffled awkwardly. “Everything alright, mate?”

“Er kinda?”

“What’s up?” The frown on Jos’ face had deepened as he cocked his head to one side and studied the man in his room who was determinedly looking anywhere but at him.

“I need you to be my boyfriend.” Shit, shit, shit, that was not how that was meant to come out! “Fuck, I didn’t mean that, well I did but not like that, It came out wrong, well not wrong, I do mean to say that but it was meant to be less commanding-“

“Why? You know I like it when you’re in charge.” Chris stopped his rambling and his cheeks flushed as he opened and closed his mouth with nothing coming out. “Okay I was kidding…slightly-“ Chris chose to ignore that “-But if this is to do with your family not leaving you alone about you not having a boyfriend then of course I will fake date you to get them to shut up, okay?” Nod “Great! Christmas?” Another nod “Even better, I love me a good Christmas dinner…Oh wait I’ve got to get you a present now…” Everything else Jos was saying turned into white noise as Chris tried to figure out what the hell he had just asked…Well demanded…Of Jos.

“Helloooo? Earth to Chris?” He jumped as Jos waved his hand in front of his face a frown etched on his. “Are you okay? You look terrified; you want to do this right?”

“Yeah…Yeah, that’s something I should be asking you anyways, so are you sure about this?”

“Yeah, you know I love your family!”

“You’ve never met them!”

“Technicalities now get out while I brainstorm your present.” Jos practically pushed Chris out of his room. The door was shut behind him and he rolled his eyes as he heard Jos laughing and Chris smiled ever so slightly as he pushed away from the room and headed back to his own. Before he could get through the door, however, Joe was jumping in front of him “Bloody hell, mate!”

“I’m really not sorry, anyways, I need to have a meeting-“

“You’re not the captain Joe,”

“I am very well aware-“

“Nor are you the vice-captain.”

“Again I am aware but Morgs wants to hold a meeting and I was the last into the room as I am a sort of bowler…Occasionally, anyway get your butt down to the meeting room.” He left as quickly as he had arrived and Chris looked around himself but Joe moved fast when he wanted to and there was no trace of him. He wasn’t even sure if the conversation had actually taken place but decided to risk it anyway and head on down to the meeting…Against his better judgement.

As it turned out, there had actually been a meeting and the conversation between Joe and himself had actually happened. Chris immediately forgot pretty much everything that had happened on the tour when he got back home.

The one thing he remembered was the conversation between himself and Jos. “Oh my God I need to buy a present!” He shot up in his bed and immediately checked the time and the date: Midnight, December 20th …Which meant he needed to find something in the morning before heading over to Jos’, picking him up and heading to his parents…Oh God.

He landed back on his bed with a thump and groaned as he stared up at his ceiling as a bunch of ‘What if?’ questions whizzed through his mind. He attempted to push them all away but what resulted was probably the worst night of sleep that he’d had in a while and he was on his second cup of coffee in as many hours as he pushed his way through the rush of Christmas shoppers with tired disgust.

He grumbled as he realised that his cup was now empty and discarded it to a nearby bin and headed into Marks & Spencer. He ignored all the clothes and headed straight to the homeware section hoping, praying, that he would find something. A mug? No too boring, Candle? Not original enough, lights? Unusual but probably not the best idea for a present. He groaned to himself and headed to his last resort, plants! If he couldn’t find something in, er, 10 minutes then he was fucked…So, so fucked!

2 minutes before he really needed to get a move on, he had wandered over to where the small trees were. He sighed as he looked through all of them, Jos would laugh at him and then the rest of the lads would once they found out but Chris was desperate and needed to buy something, go back home, wrap it, jump in the car, pick Jos up and finally go to his parents’ house. Myrtle trees, there’s got to be some sort of random symbolism in there but Chris really did not care…They looked alright; he grabbed two to make it seem a little more romantic. You know one for him and one for Jos, a couple…Oh God what was he doing with his life?

Picking up Jos to introduce him to his family as his ‘boyfriend’ apparently.

“Hiya Woakesy!” The Lancashire keeper was way too positive for how Chris currently felt so he settled on a half-smile as Jos seated himself in the car. “Wow, that my present?” Jos looked between the very poorly wrapped trees and Chris who sighed and nodded as he drove out of Jos’ driveway “What’s the matter not excited to be spending Christmas with me?”

“No it’s not that, I’m really tired-”

“Want me to drive?”

“No, no, thanks for the offer but I’m fine.” Chris assured him and offered what he hoped was a reassuring smile “Go ahead and put some music on, we have got a long drive ahead of us.” He stated and Jos nodded and shifted through the music on his phone before selecting something and whatever song it was, was soon filling the car. “That’s something actually,” Jos stated suddenly and Chris raised an eyebrow in response but waited for him to continue “, why did your parents move down south when you’re all the way up north?”

“They hate me.” Chris grinned as Jos laughed and kicked his feet up onto the dashboard; Chris cast a brief glance at them but chose not to stay anything and instead focussed back on the road…Totally not the way the sun danced over Jos’ features, or the soft smile that was gracing his lips, nope none of those things. Road, Chris, focus we are not ending up in hospital. “Nah, they just wanted to move south, I’m not sure why but I don’t mind.” He just about managed to remember what they had been talking about before he got distracted and his answer seemed satisfactory to Jos.

“What have you got me?” Chris relaxed into his seat; it was easier letting Jos lead the conversation as he was way too nervous and too tired to attempt to keep a conversation going. “Because by the size of that gift, it looks like you’ve spent a lot and I’m now worried I’m going to look a bit like I don’t care enough-“

“It’s the thought that counts, Jos, plus you’re already doing enough by pretending to be my boyfriend for a few days.” Chris interrupted him and he was fully aware that he hadn’t really put any thought into the present he had got him but oh well!

“How’s this going to work? I assume we’ll have to be all couple-y but how far? Kissing?”

“I really don’t know, my family will probably do the whole mistletoe thing so be prepared for that but I don’t know…Are you comfortable with this?”

“I am all in, Chris, I’ve got you a present and I’m in the car so I can’t back out now, don’t worry about me. We’re good.” Jos nodded and Chris smiled with relief coursing through his body. This was happening and everything would be fine, they’d get through the Christmas period and then they didn’t need to acknowledge this again and he could just mention that they broke up or something further down the line. But for now they just needed to get through the holiday with hopefully no hiccups.

“Here we are, home sweet home!” Chris exclaimed with a wince but relaxed slightly when Jos laughed and jumped out of the car and upon doing so immediately let out a groan of relief as he stretched his limbs out. Chris lingered slightly longer in the car and occasionally let his gaze slide over Jos who was taking in their surroundings “Like what you see, babe?” A bright red flush made its way across Chris’ cheeks, damn he’d been caught.

Wait…Babe? He raised a quizzical eyebrow at Jos once he’d left the car who shrugged in response “What? Gotta start convincing your family right?” He muttered and Chris nodded “Yeah, right, of course.”

“Or I can stop with the pet names, if you’re not comfortable?”

“No, no, pet names are fine…Love.” He smirked as he emphasised ‘love’ probably more than he needed to and Jos’ confident demeanour broke slightly and he giggled gently as he collected his bag from the boot and passed Chris his. Chris collected the trees from the backseat before locking up and leading the way to the front door of his parents’ house.

“CHRISTOPHER!”

“Hey sis,” he grinned as he awkwardly hugged her back despite his arms being full “, how you been?” He eventually managed to ask once she had stopped squeezing the life out of him. “Oh y’know-“ She cut herself off with a gasp as she spotted Jos “-And who is this?!” He never did get to find out how she had been.

“This is my boyfriend, Jos, Jos this is my sister, Sarah.” He introduced them with a slight hint of nervousness in his voice but that soon disappeared as Jos stuck his hand forwards “Hey, nice to meet you, he doesn’t shut up about his family, nice to see you’re as lovely as he said!”

“Oh, nice to know Chris has such a high opinion of me, very nice to meet you too.” She shook his hand with a smile with a familiar Woakes blush dusting her cheeks. “He’s nice!” She hissed to her brother as they entered the house and Chris nodded as he placed the presents on the floor. “Don’t screw this up.” She warned and scooped up the presents to go place them under the tree.

 “Hey, surely that’s something you should be warning him not me?!” He shook his head after her as Jos looked back at him. “I think she likes you.”

“Always-“

“Chris, how have you been dear?” Jos was interrupted by Chris’ mum coming to give him a hug “Great, mum this is my boyfriend Jos, Jos this is- Stop judging my parents’ house.” Chris frowned as Jos whirled round to face the two of them with a broad smile on his face “Oh I wasn’t judging I’m admiring the interior, lovely to meet you Mrs Woakes, Chris speaks of you very highly.” Yep just keep complimenting them…It was working, Chris noted, as another Woakes family flush coated his mother’s cheeks “Elaine, please, I insist.” She smiled as Jos nodded in response “Elaine it is.”

“I’ll let you two get settled in, make sure you’re down soon though. Want to make the most of this rare occasion.” She gave Chris another hug before heading out of the hallway and back to the living room. “I guess I should show you to our room.” Jos beamed at that and happily allowed Chris to lead the way up the stairs and to their room.

“You’re shit at this mate, considering this was your idea.” Jos stated, bluntly, once the bedroom door had shut behind them and Chris frowned as he started to unpack his bag. “What do you mean?”

“Well you’ve called me your boyfriend but there’s nothing about us that screams that we are a couple,” He explained and Chris sighed “I get this is strange but it was your idea so I don’t know, hold my hand maybe, put your arm around me, just do something that looks more than I’m just your friend who you decided to invited round for Christmas.” He was right. But to be fair, Chris hadn’t known how far Jos was willing to go and he explained as much right away.

Luckily Jos didn’t take offence and just smiled and started to unpack as well. “Did I need to get presents for your whole family?” He asked suddenly and Chris shrugged, he didn’t know, possibly? “Because I did anyway.” Well then, what was the worry?

Chris finished unpacking a few minutes after Jos who had sat quietly on the bed scrolling through Instagram on his phone. If Chris was honest (which he tried to be) he’d say that Jos was nervous, normally he’d have been cracking jokes left, right and centre but right now he was shuffling around quietly as if scared of making any noise.

“You alright?”

“Hmm?” Jos looked up from his phone a smile on his face “I’m fine, ready to face the family again?” He got to his feet and cautiously held his hand out to Chris who stared at it for a moment before taking it with his and linking their fingers together. He met Jos’ eyes with a smile and the wicket keeper nodded encouragingly before they left the room.

Chris blinked in surprise when Jos gently nuzzled into his arm but he soon realised why, his sister had come up the stairs. “You alright, babe?” The word rolled off his tongue much easier than he thought it would’ve as Jos ever so gently pressed a kiss to his jaw. Either this Christmas was going to be torture for him or something wonderful. He hoped it was the latter. The moment was shattered when Jos pulled away, their hands the only point of contact now.

Torture, Chris decided, that was the most likely outcome of this holiday.


End file.
